The world of “The Lego Movie” is already weird because it’s full of talking and moving LEGOs, a feat that accurately employs stop-motion animation almost to an ironic point.
But when the hero of this story is oblivious, awkward and — most surprisingly — inadequate, the world takes an even stranger turn.
Emmet (Chris Pratt) is an average, naive LEGO chosen to be the Master Builder in a prophecy that acknowledges how cliche it is — just like every other trope in the movie effectively does.
The opening scenes see Emmet doing — and even enjoying — things that people only do because it’s what the masses are doing. Basically, Emmett is the embodiment of the legitimately oblivious millennial who doesn’t critically think because they’re lazy — it actually just hasn’t occurred to them to do so.
Buying over-priced coffee, watching a terrible show entitled “Where Are My Pants?” and singing a theme song of “Everything is AWESOME!!!” are only a few of the generic and satirized things that an instruction manual of life tells Emmet to do, and he follows with little to no awareness of the world around him.
Thus, this dubious, fake Master Builder must stop the evil Lord Business (Will Ferrell) from “Kragle-ing,” or gluing, everything to fit his idea of perfection, which serves as a clever play on conformity.
The only reason why Emmet is chosen as the hero is because he finds a red “Piece of Resistance” glued to his back after encountering fair, feisty WyldStyle (Elizabeth Banks), and the irony is that there is no greater reason behind why he was chosen.
“The Lego Movie” also has witty banter that plays off the protagonist being _dumber_ than his supporting cast. Emmet’s sidekicks, knowledgeable actual Master Builders, are also glamorous established pop culture figures such as Batman (Will Arnett) and Gandalf-Dumbledore hybrid Vitruvius (Morgan Freeman), and famous archetypes such as Bad Cop/Good Cop (Liam Neeson). All of these guys get by on arrogance, but in a cutely satisfying turn of events, end up undermined by Emmet’s blank yet open mind.
The movie could have fared on its own as a social commentary. Hell, it could have fared on its own just by being animated. Instead, it decided it would inevitably draw a lesson — sometimes, our childhood playmates can be an allegory for dilemmas we face in life every day (as the last live-action scenes show).
_MOVE gives “The Lego Movie” 5 out of 5 stars._
